60 Minutes Sustainability and a Push For Big ‘ole Lobsters

Last night CBS’s 60 Minutes revisited a story it first aired in January about bluefin sushi tuna. Even before that, way back in October of 2007 the National Fisheries Institute joined the U.S. Congress, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and environmental groups in calling for a moratorium on bluefin tuna fishing in the Mediterranean. CBS did a good job, even in this re-cut version, of explaining that the problems associated with bluefin are primarily the result of the high end Asian sushi market and that bluefin is not the kind of tuna consumers fined canned in the grocery store.

While on the topic of sustainability, NFI’s push for more sustainable lobster fisheries is getting some play. It’s a pretty simple but important campaign. NFI wants regulators to adopt a minimum size requirement for Spiny Lobsters harvested from the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico and the South Atlantic. The hope is that regulators will sign on to mandatory size and weight restrictions like the voluntary ones recently enacted by Darden Restaurants Inc. – they’re the Red Lobster folks.